Spirit of outdoor activity: exploring the link between creativity, spirituality, and the natural environment

On a universal level, various theories suggest an innate human-nature relationship. Although there are many benefits to being in the natural environment, the universal relationship has not translated to humans spending time outdoors. Therefore, the present exploratory study focused on creativity and spirituality as individual factors related to outdoor activity through four research questions: 1) what is the nature of the relationship between creativity and outdoor activity 2) what is the nature of the relationship between spirituality and outdoor activity 3) are creativity and spirituality two overlapping factors that relate to outdoor activity and 4) what effect does age, gender, ethnicity, and education have on the relationship between spirituality, creativity, and outdoor activity? One hundred and one participants volunteered to complete the Creative Personality Inventory, Spirituality Inventory, and Outdoor Activity Questionnaire. The results indicate a significant correlation with spirituality, more specifically transcendence, and outdoor activity. In addition, creativity and spirituality were overlapping factors that accounted for a significant amount of variance in outdoor activity levels. This was found to be true when controlling for age and gender. These results add empirical evidence that has been lacking from the theories on creativity, spirituality, and the natural environment, and suggest individual differences in the human-nature relationship